Graduating college a semester or full year early?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD graduated a year early but went straight on to a top grad program. Agree that it is best to get 4+ years in school to fully develop as an adult.

She did this with APs (her school gave double credit for 5s) and early college through MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not possible at top private colleges, right?

Not necessarily. My kid graduated a semester early from Cornell with a Biology degree. Lots of AP scores that were accepted for credits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not possible at top private colleges, right?

Not necessarily. My kid graduated a semester early from Cornell with a Biology degree. Lots of AP scores that were accepted for credits.

Should add that he used the "free" semester to study for MCATs, work in a hospital, and prepare his medical school applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone do this? Was it AP/IB credit or summer work or what that qualified them to graduate early?
And Aside from the obvious fact that a kid would miss part or all of senior year on campus, are there other cons?
How did it work out for your kid?

Everyone I know who did this with their kids regretted it later. Adult work life is not fun. My daughter had enough AP credits to graduate in 3 years, but she had a full ride scholarship, so we encouraged her to stay there for 4 years and have some fun and take some fun easier art and art history classes and she is very thankful for that now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not possible at top private colleges, right?

Actually it is possible.

Kid finishes today. Many of these schools allow them to live in campus housing (and pay for it, of course) if they are seniors who finish a quarter or semester early. No tuition or heavily discounted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone do this? Was it AP/IB credit or summer work or what that qualified them to graduate early?
And Aside from the obvious fact that a kid would miss part or all of senior year on campus, are there other cons?
How did it work out for your kid?

Everyone I know who did this with their kids regretted it later. Adult work life is not fun. My daughter had enough AP credits to graduate in 3 years, but she had a full ride scholarship, so we encouraged her to stay there for 4 years and have some fun and take some fun easier art and art history classes and she is very thankful for that now.

99% of kids/families don't have "free college" available to them. Would you have made the same decision if that last year would have cost you $80k? or if you had already spent $200k on her college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's not kid ourselves, there can be real downsides to graduating early. Obviously the big upsides are saving tuition and starting your career sooner. Some downsides are:

(1) Less time to do undergrad research and publish to build your resume for a grad program

(2) Less time to build relationships and ith faculty to get the best recommendation letters

(3) Less time to take extra classes that fill knowledge gaps for your intended career, but which aren't strictly required

(4) Less of an opportunity to try courses in other fields and discover what interests you most

(5) You lose the summer internship opportunities either by taking courses or by having fewer summers. Many internships are only open to students so you can necessarily get these opportunities back.

(6) It's harder to fit in a study abroad or co-op

(7) Less time to build lasting relationships with classmates

(8) Missing fun senior year experiences that you cannot get back

(9) Reduced opportunities to take the really interesting capstone courses in your major(s) or minor(s)

(10) At some schools, a lower likelihood that you can finish an undergrad thesis to get an honors degree

Sorry, I just disagree. UVA even awards special gold stoles at commencement to the 60 or more students who do it every year. It's very cost-effective for parents - the cases I know of the kids (through their hard work) saved a year's worth of tuition and costs by doing this. And they ALL entered top grad schools. Not one experienced the 10 things you cite above. In an era when a single year of law school can cost $110K, yes, trying to knock out core requirements at the high school level makes a lot of sense.

You can make the decision that the cost isn't worth the benefits of staying for an extra year, but it's not true that there are never real benefits to extra time as an undergraduate. Personally, I wanted to get into a science PhD program and it was incredibly important to publish during undergrad. Research and journal acceptances take time and couldn't be done in 3 years.

[Anonymous]

I will try to find a minute to mention this to DD this weekend when she graduates a semester early. "DCUM does not approve of this!"

[Anonymous]

I mean, one semester early isn't as big a time difference as a whole year.

I guess it depends why and what the child is doing next.

A friend of mine graduated a semester early and wound up getting pregnant within a couple months. Let's just say the next couple years of her life were miserable and ended in her starting fresh in a new place.

I am NOT saying this will happen to others, just hopefully there is a plan when finishing early for whatever reason.

There was no reason (financial or otherwise) for me to push to finish early, so I didn't. I got to have a relatively stress free senior year as I had already finished my major and just had to find classes to finish credit requirements.